Veteran NBA forward Marvin Williams has decided to call it a career, telling Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’s retiring as a player.
Williams, 34, was the second overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. He began his career by spending seven seasons with the Hawks before moving on to play for the Jazz, Hornets, and Bucks over the course of his 15-year career.
Although he never developed into the sort of star player Atlanta may have hoped for when drafting him ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul in 2005, Williams was an exemplary teammate and a reliable role player, averaging 10.2 PPG and 5.2 RPG on .443/.361/.808 shooting in 1,072 career regular season games (28.1 MPG).
The former UNC standout appeared in another 59 playoff contests, including 10 with Milwaukee this summer. He played his last NBA game on Tuesday night, recording 11 points and eight rebounds in the Bucks’ season-ending loss to Miami.
At age 34, Williams would likely still be able to get a minimum-salary contract on an NBA team this offseason if he wanted to extend his career. However, he had spoken back in January about considering retiring at the end of this season. At the time, he said he was interested in pursuing a role in international basketball outreach once his playing days were over.
“I like the Junior NBA (program) where you are basically a camp counselor all around the world,” Williams told Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. “Basketball Without Borders, I’ve done a couple of those: I went to Africa and I went to Indonesia. … Any opportunity I get to travel and work with kids? That’s what I would love to do.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
A solid career all around for Marvin, never a star but always a talented roleplayer. Wish he could’ve gone out with a ring. Wish him nothing but the best in retirement. Thanks for all the years in Charlotte
Marv was a great mentor to me. Good player but an even better guy. Congrats on a long career, Marvin.
Class act. Best of luck MW
Decent player never lived up to the pick. But happy retirement and I wish you all the health, success, and happiness in your post career life.
Nothing but good things to say about Marvin. True professional. Sorry the Bucks couldn’t deliver you a ring.
Arguably one of the best big man of all time.
Damn…. the Heat beat the Bucks so bad one of their players literally quit the NBA tonight?…… All jokes aside, congrats on a great career Marvin Williams
He got off a sinking ship. Now what happens with Giannis?
Congrats, MW! Guy graduated from my HS just a few years before me. Made Bremerton proud.
Marvin Williams is one of those guys burdened by his draft status. If he had been picked #10 or #16 in the first round, he would be looked at a lot differently than he is as a #2 pick. He’s not what I would consider a bust by any means, but it’s hard to look at his career and not think of it as at least slightly disappointing.
I know what you means. It’s a similar career trajectory to someone like Ted Ginn. Both athletes have proven to be valuable role players, yet neither lived up to their elite draft status. At the very least, each will retire on their own terms rather than getting forced out due to a lack of skill
Over 100 million in the bank hard to call his career anything less than a huge success